May 2, 2011

This is one highly rated dish from my mom's kitchen and tasted yum everytime she made it . S actually sniffed his nose when he saw me adding 'unfamiliar' ingredients for a Kanjivaram Idli, but polished off more than he thought he would :-) Some make this with black Urad dal (whole Urad dal with skin on), but I quite detest the sight of 'black' idlis on my plate (may be they are healthier). The interesting thing about this recipe is that it needs no special dal mixture for the Idli batter, but the add-ons make it a lip smacking affair :) You may also make this with Idli batter already in your freezer or grind it freshly for this (I do both, but prefer the latter and have outlined the same as under). Truly Tamilnadu style :)

This is as healthy as any other Idli can get and is quite a treat with its medley of heady spices. Goes well with any chutney / sambhar / Molagapudi (fiery lentil powder) . Have served here with Veg Peel Chutney. See Tips below for options to make this a 'child friendly'version.

April 30, 2011

Majjigehuli (or morkozhambu in Tamil) along with Thovve (Elai paruppu - Boiled and seasoned toor dal) forms an integral forms an part of Karnataka Cuisine. Majjigehuli (loosely translated as spicy curd gravy) can be made with a lot of veggies (Ashgourd, Yellow Cucumber, Chow Chow etc). Tamilians even add Sundakkai to Morkozhambu. But as this particular recipe is Authentic Karnataka, I shall use Yellow Cucumber (called Dosakaya in Telugu) for this Majjigehuli.

April 26, 2011

With all your good wishes, I have crossed my 50th post today ! And what better reason to celebrate this than with Wholewheat Herbed Masala Buns, adapted from Aipi's recipe.

This was my first tryst with Mr. Yeast ever, and baking with yeast is indeed addictive ! Thanks Aipi :) The fact that it was eggless made my dinner too ! I should need a little more time and a tad or two degrees less in my oven next time around. S, who detests anything made of refined flour, appreciated it and had it for dinner along with Butternut Squash soup. My kid helped me get the veggies from the pantry and also helped me fill the stuffing into the buns, and boy ! Was she impatient to eat them or what ??!! :-) Makes a great option for school lunchboxes too..

April 25, 2011

Chole with Puri (unleavened Indian bread) is one of mine and daughter's favourite breakfast treats ! Although breakfast is generally Idli / Dosa at my place, an occassional indulgence like this on Sunday mornings makes for the perfect treat :)

Chole / Choley with Channa / Garbanzo bean is made in a million different ways in as many households across the globe. While the Amritsari Chole is famous for its spicy taste and goes great with Bhature (another unleavened Indian bread), Punjabi Dhabas have made this a popular eatery all over India. Once while at Chandigarh, I was told that staunch foodies would drive down all the way from Chandigarh to Amritsar to have Choley-Bhature with Lassi in the winter season and burp their way back home :-)

Like I said this can be prepared in many ways. The following version works best for me with minimum oil and spice and can put together quickly even in the mornings (with some prior preparation overnight). This also goes well with roti /Nan/Phulka :)

April 21, 2011

I haven't heard anyone who has Tamilnadu roots (not literally ! LoL ) who doesn't like Sepankizhangu roast .. In fact, dad used to go ecstatic the days mom used to make this at home. And now S and daughter love it. Mine is more an acquired taste rather than genetic!

The edible types are grown in the South Pacific and eaten like potatoes and known as taro, eddoe, and dasheen. In the Indian subcontinent it is known as Arabi, Arbi, Pinalu, Alvi, Chaama, Ghuiya, Patra, Mukh, and both roots and leaves are used. The leaves are also called Kui Patta or Kui Leaf or Aluchi Paana (in Marathi).

Cooking this vegetable takes a little skill, although the ones cooking this for a long time would not be inclined to agree. This stir fry can be neither too mashy / sticky nor too hard and takes a little practice and patience. Although traditionally this dish is made deep frying the veggie, I prefer to use as little oil as possible ! See Tips below for more info !

Preparation Time : 20 mins. Cooking time: 10 mins.Serves : 4

April 20, 2011

Summer meals are light meals - breakfast, lunch or dinner. Or even snacks and lite bites for kids :) My daughter's khwaaish was 'something different and chatpata' last Sunday evening and thankfully I had anticipated this beforehand and was prepared with the ingredients. Thanks to her, all of us had delicious Papdi Chaat.

I really don't have to give out the recipe for this, but for all the effort I took and the pics that I was allowed to take, I thought why not share this at all :) I have made this child friendly with less spice etc. But do indulge yourself if you are serving this at a party / get together as a yummy starter ... The quantities are also approx, and can be adjusted to suit your palate.

Preparation time: 30 mins. Cooking time : nil ;

Serves : As many as one wants to eat (just extrapolate the ingredients :-) )

April 17, 2011

A long cherished dream to make Mixed Veg Pickle (North Indian style) came true early this week. S was asking for some, having missed his MIL's (my mom's) lemon pickle of late. I had seen mom and grandmom make jars of pickles for the year, but never attempted to make any beyond the 'instant mango' version on my own. Browsing through Latha's veg pickle gave me respite that this is 'do-able' at home too..

I have slightly tweaked mine from the original version, and added in a few veggies of my own. Although this pickle can be made sans onion & garlic, a few pods of the latter stepped up the flavour enormously :) See notes at the end of this post for more information.This bitter-sweet pickle goes well with curd rice or parathas or just about anything.

April 16, 2011

Gives me great pleasure to announce that I would be guest hosting my first event with Herbs & Flowers in my Platter originally started by PJ . Many thanks to her for this wonderful opportunity. My chosen herb is "fenugreek". Fenugreek is used both as a herb (the leaves) and as a spice (the seed, often called methi). The plant is cultivated worldwide as a semi-arid crop and is a common ingredient in many curries.

Vazhakkai Podi / Spicy Raw Banana curry isa quick and delicious curry that you
can put together in under 15 minutes. Make and store the masala powder
beforehand for everyday use and you will have plenty of time in the kitchen.
This curry goes well with yoghurt rice / Rasam / Sambhar (now I am
repeatedly talking about curd rice in all my previous posts coz its summer now,
and nothing satiates tummy like chilled yoghurt rice!)

This masala powder
can be used with other veggies too – Potato / Arbi (Colocasia) or any other
tubers. Sending this to day 7 of Blogging Marathon that I am running under the
theme "Vazhakkai Podi".

April 12, 2011

Set Dosa, Chapati, Poori - all these go with this amazing Vegetable-Cashew Kurma (vegetable-cashew gravy). Although the addition of cashew is optional, it gives the gravy such a rich flavour and makes it fingerlicking good :)

My recent sojourn to Bangalore made me crave for Set Dosa + Kurma, and Sukh Sagar, Jayanagar did not disappoint.

April 10, 2011

First, a brief history of Corn (Hindi - Makai,Tamil -Shozham,Kannada-Jola):

"Sweet corn (Zea mays convar. saccharata var. rugosa; also called Indian corn, sugar corn, and pole corn) is a variety of maize with a high sugar content. Sweet corn is the result of a naturally occurring recessive mutation in the genes which control conversion of sugar to starch inside the endosperm of the corn kernel. Unlike field corn varieties, which are harvested when the kernels are dry and mature (dent stage), sweet corn is picked when immature (milk stage) and prepared and eaten as a vegetable, rather than a grain."Source : Wikipedia

Frozen corn / American corn along with Baby corn became popular in Indian cuisine, atleast in middle class households along with the Internet and multi cuisine restaurants. Much like mushrooms which, well invaded the working-woman's kitchen. Malls / food courts, Chinese restaurants & Multiplexes , Baby corn manchurian, Corn Chaat, Corn Tikkis were hot discussion topics both at school and high tea :)

My kid loves this Sweet corn boiled along with a pinch of salt / kala namak(black salt), and I love this for its very low in sodium and high in dietary fibre. 1 cup of Sweet Corn contains 132 calories, and just 1.8 gm of fat !! I add this to most sabjis, and last evening made Makai Aloo Tikkis -something I had wanted to make since a longggg time ! After the success of Beetroot cutlet, she quite likes tikkis, and its very easy for me to sneak in veggies as well !!

Note: The tikkis disappeared before I could snap a few pictures, and I was left with just two, which I managed to. My kid was at her enthusiastic best last evening, and offered to click snaps of the filled potato cups (well it blurred a bit, but the effort mattered!!)

1) In a large bowl, add the grated potato, salt, turmeric, amchur, red chilli powder, chat masala, coriander, mint and mix well. As far as possible, do not add water. Add a little cornflour if you find the mixture too watery.2) In another bowl, mix peas, corn and lemon juice. Add salt and any other masala powder if you wish ( I didnt add green chillis / other masala as I was making this for the child)3) Divide the potato mixture into 6 equal balls. Flatten out a little bit and with your index finger / thumb, make a depression and fill in the peas-corn mixture.4) Cover the peas-corn with the potato and make into longish / thickish flat tikkis. Rest5) In a bowl, add APF, cornflour, salt and add very little water to make a thickish slurry6) Dip the tikkis into the slurry, then roll all over in the bread crumbs and shallow fry.7) Serve hot with mint chutney and / or tomato ketchup

Tips:1) You may add chopped onions, green chillies to make it a little more spicier2) I shallow fried the tikkis . It may also be deep fried and served with Chole - another Punjabi delicacy :-)

Sending this to Day 7 of Srivalli's Blogging Marathon under "Kids Delight" category ! Its been 7 fun-filled days of knowing new foodies across the globe :)

April 9, 2011

Coconut and its by-products are widely used in South Indian cuisine – for curries, dosas, chutneys, coconut milk, barfis (Indian sweets) etc. Thengai Barfi / Kobbari Mithai (Coconut barfi) is one of my childhood favourites which my mom used to dish out in a jiffy for festivals and get-togethers with friends or when we craved for some sweet. It tasted all the more better as the coconuts were freshly plucked from my grandmom’s backyard and grated. I remember for Krishna Janmashtami festival, mom used to grate mounds of coconut for various paniyaarams (sweet dishes) to be offered to the lord, and we kids used to be shooed away with some juicy coconut gratings + jaggery / sugar, and what a treat it was !! J

Coming to today’s post – Cashew Coconut Barfi, I decided to substitute the sugar with some jaggery and cashew powder and it turned out marvelous. My family is kind of particular about the proportion of sweetness, and did have it reluctantly at first, and then welcomed the extra sweetness for a change. I have posted here the appropriate proportion that can be used. However, this can vary from one household to another on how much sweet each prefers. I used freshly grated coconut, and am keen on knowing how it turned out with frozen versions too, as many of my blogger-friends would do around the globe J These barfis keep well for about a week without refrigeration.

April 8, 2011

Friday morning saw me rise early & make Adai Dosa (Lentil Savoury Pancakes) - perfect for breakfast and lunchbox for S and kid respectively. Although my kid likes this hot and crisp, she wanted to take 'something different' for lunchbox today ! She loves this dosa with just jaggery and ghee(clarified butter), which I gladly compiled - anything for her to empty the lunchbox :)

Adai Dosa goes great with Avialor Molagapudi(fiery spice powder). This is a dish from Tamilnadu although my mom n grandma also (from Karnataka) used to make them for evening snacks for us hungry kids back when back from school. The best part of this dish is it doesnt need fermenting at all, and can be made instantly after the batter is ground.

1) Wash and soak Rice and Dals separately for 4 - 6 hours. Soak the chillies with the dals.2) Grind the Rice first into a fine paste. Then add lentils little by little and grind into a fine paste.3) Add red chillies, turmeric, salt to the above mixture and grind well into a Dosa - like batter.4) Transfer to a vessel and add jaggery, hing, curry leaves, coriander. 5) Lightly grease a tava (Indian skillet) and pour one ladleful of batter to a thickish (pancake kind of) dosa. Drizzle oil on and around the dosa 6) Once done, flip over and cook on the other side too, on a medium flame till golden brown.7) Serve hot with Avial or Molagapudi or just with ghee-jaggery combo !!

Tips:

1) You may add freshly grated coconut or chopped onions to the batter.2) As I prepared this for the kid, I refrained from adding green chillies or regular red chillies. You may add one or both of these in case you want it spicy.3) Cooking this Adai on a medium- high flame is important, else on high heat will turn very hard and chewy.

April 7, 2011

Muffins are a favourite pick-me-ups with my kid (and me too)! They pep me up instantly, and satiates kid's sweeth tooth too :) Tweaked a recipe I read somewhere, and made Wholewheat Walnut-Banana Muffins (Eggless) - the aroma of banana mixed with the crunch of Walnuts and the comfort that it was wholewheat, all made the effort look and taste good :)

1) Sieve Flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon powder thrice over.2) Blend bananas with milk. Cool and transfer to a large bowl. 3) To this, add sugar, Oil, essence and mix well till sugar dissolves into a creamy consistency.4) Add the walnuts to the dry mixture from step 1 and mix well. Reserve a few walnuts for garnish if required.5) Add the flour + walnut mixture to the wet mixture (from step 3) a few tablespoons at a time and fold till done fully. Do not beat.6) Preheat the oven to 175 Deg C.7) Line the muffin moulds with baking cups and spoon the mixture till 3/4 filled. 8) Bake for 13-14 minutes till done.9) Cool on a wire rack till cool.10) Garnish with cherries and serve.

Note: As I made only 6 muffins and had some batter left, baked a cake with the same batter. Otherwise, this proportion makes 12 muffins. Couldn't resist clicking them as well !

April 6, 2011

Summer is already upon us, and feeding kids with nutritious , healthy and oil free alternatives is really a task. Fruits and water-based vegetables are a great option, Squash (not the game) is one such veggie - chutneys, Curry, Raitha, halwa, Soups etc - all can be made with this. Yesterday, the daughter and I had a yummy Squash and Dal Shorba for dinner - light, healthy and tasty too :) Halloween and Pumpkin pie from the west has made this vegetable popular and is known by many names across India - Kaddoo(Hindi), Seegumbalakaai(Kannada),Parangikai (Tamil). This dish can also be used as an appetiser for any party along with finger foods. I am sending this to Day 3 of Srivalli's Blogging Marathon under the "Kids Friendly" recipes category.

Wikipedia tells me that "the word pumpkin originates from the word pepon which is Greek for “large melon". The French adapted this word to pompon, which the British changed to pumpion and later American colonists changed that to the word we use today, "pumpkin"."

Preparation time : 15 mins. Cooking time : 10 mins. Serves: 2

To prepare this Shorba (Shorba means a thick soup or gravy made of vegetables or meat), you need:

Ingredients:

Peeled and cubed Squash - 1 cup

Onions - cubed - 1/2 (opt)

Tomatoes - 2 nos

Cooked Masoor Dal (Red Lentil) - 1/4 cup

Milk - 4 tbsp (Opt)

Salt - to taste

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp

Dhania / Coriander Powder - 1/4 tsp

Jeera / Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp

Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp (opt)

Freshly ground pepper - 1/2 tsp

Cumin / jeera - 1 tsp

Ghee / Oil - 1 tsp

Fresh Coriander - for garnish

Method:

1) Steam the pumpkin with water into a little more than al dente consistency. Drain the water and keep aside. Preserve the water. You may add a pinch of salt while boiling the veggie.2) In a pan / Soup pot, heat ghee or oil, fry onions till translucent.3) Blanch the tomatoes, Peel and chop.4) Puree the Pumkin / squash, tomatoes, onions with 1 cup water or more till you get a thick mixture.5) In the same pan, simmer the above puree. Add turmeric, salt, jeera and coriander powder, red chilli powder and stir well. Add dal and using a churn (used to make buttermilk) or egg whisk , whip it finely till the dal incorporates into the shorba mixture. Boil till you get the desired shorba consistency (thicker than a clear soup)6) Splutter some jeera in a dry skillet and pour onto the shorba.7) Remove from fire, add milk if using and garnish with coriander and freshly ground pepper8) serve hot with croutons /soup sticks.

Tips:

a) As this was a dinner menu, I served it with lightly toasted-n-herbed garlic bread.b) I used milk in place of cream as the dal would have the protein in already.c) In my experience, Masoor Dal is a great alternative to Moong / Toor Dal as its light for any soup / shorba. d) Onions are really optional and you could make it without it either. Pepper (red and black) is also optional if your kid is really young.e) If you are serving adults only, you can also garnish with burnt garlic and some dry herbs.